white jellylike poop?

[MikeF]

I came home last night and saw 4 of my discus excreting a white jellylike substance. I do not know if it is poop or maybe intestinal lining? This substance looks white/clear and is sometimes as long as the fish. It is also fluffy, not stringlike. Can't really tell if it is segmented or not. One of these discus has done this before, and then it stops. I checked several times today, and did not see any of these fish excreting anything today, but noticed a few pieces of this substance floating in the water. These fish have not been eating much lately, and have been hiding more. They still look ok, and the fins are not clamped. I have a 150 gallon tank with 20 semi adults. The tank also has a sand bottom. Water parameters are fine, and temp is at 85. PH is 7.5. I try and change atleast 50 gallons every other day. Water is usually aged with a mixture of 50% tap and 50% RO water. I have not added any meds at this time. Like stated before, there is one fish in the tank that has done this before, and usually stops the next day. Any ideas, or recommendations of what to do?

[Eddie]

I'd get the affected fish into a QT tank and treat them with metro. Many if not all fish have flegallates and when a fish becomes stressed or their immune systems back down, the flags begin to destruct. The best thing to do IMO is get the flags early, before the fish fall too far behind.

I'd only treat the fish that have symptoms as the others may have a sufficient immune system to keep the flags at bay.

Eddie

[MikeF]

Thanks Eddie,
I was just reading thru the metro sticky, and after about 14 pages came to the same conculsion. Do you have any idea why the feces is fluffy instead of string like? It also makes me wonder why a fish will excret this one day, and not the next? Like I said, I have checked several times today, and saw no fish excreting this stuff today.

[Eddie]

Thanks Eddie,
I was just reading thru the metro sticky, and after about 14 pages came to the same conculsion. Do you have any idea why the feces is fluffy instead of string like? It also makes me wonder why a fish will excret this one day, and not the next? Like I said, I have checked several times today, and saw no fish excreting this stuff today.

Hi there Mark,

The stringy poo won't be a constant. I have found stringy/fluffy poo in my tanks and never noticed any issues, then a week or so later...BAM a fish is off their food. It's crazy but it happens like that. If I could have seen what fish it had been that had the stringy poo, I could have reacted faster and possibly started feeding medicated food instead of moving him to QT and trying for weeks to get the fish to eat. Its always best to get it before it gets you....


Eddie